


Fear and Faith

by lucycourageous



Series: Sun and Moon [3]
Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Eldritch, Gen, uncanny twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29176392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucycourageous/pseuds/lucycourageous
Summary: The streets of London are changing, and as the Templar Order begins to topple, superstition and rumour run rampant.
Series: Sun and Moon [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2127885
Comments: 7
Kudos: 21





	Fear and Faith

The streets of London are changing.

It starts as a ripple. A favourite lieutenant of a gang boss displaced here, a corrupt policeman arrested there. Operations that have run smoothly for decades are suddenly disrupted, players who have long gone unchallenged abruptly and unceremoniously deposed. At first, it’s irritating more than anything – if a couple of midnight raids and the elimination of a few low-level thugs were enough to bring the city to its knees, London wouldn’t be the immense, efficient beast that it is – but as time wears on and the ripple continues to spread, people begin to grow uneasy. 

What makes it worse is that, for a long time, no one can seem to confidently identify the source of the trouble; no one is claiming responsibility, so there’s no one person that can be hunted down and eliminated. 

That doesn’t mean there aren’t rumours. 

Some say the mastermind behind these unexpected difficulties is a young woman, sharp-eyed and pale, her skin as smooth as marble and just as cold. The ones who claim to have encountered her run home like frightened rabbits, wide-eyed and panting. They babble, and the same phrases crop up time and time again: “we never even knew she was there” and “she came out of nowhere” and most haunting of all, “she killed them all”. They jump at shadows, and even under threat, refuse to walk the streets after dark. 

Others disagree, stating categorically that the real problem is a new gang, led by the same man who’s been tearing his way through London’s illicit fight clubs, flooring veteran fighters in a matter of moments and leaving every match with his knuckles drenched in their blood. A few disgruntled patrons (those who have lost money on bets for the most part) have gone after him in broad daylight, enraged by the casual way he strolls the streets as if he owns them – only to realise far too late that perhaps they should have just let him pass by. 

A third story, easily the most outlandish, claims that the man and woman are in fact one and the same being, a shapeshifter that can change its face: after all, no one ever seems to have seen them in the same place at the same time, and anyone lucky enough to have encountered both and survived to tell the tale says that there’s an eerie resemblance between the two. That version is summarily dismissed as nonsense in the safety of a noisy, well-lit pub; but once heard, it lingers in the mind, and more than one man goes home that night with his hand tucked firmly into his pocket, clutching a concealed weapon and stumbling a little as his eyes anxiously search the rooftops above. 

By the time it comes out that the leaders of the Rooks are brother and sister, twins, and go by the rather unassuming names of Jacob and Evie Frye, it’s far too late to rein in the fear. The tales have already taken on a life of their own, and though it seems highly unlikely that the woman can actually walk through walls like a ghost, or that her brother is like a plague unto himself, carrying death with him wherever he goes, fewer and fewer people are willing to take that risk. The ones who do are either desperate, or cocksure and hungry for glory, eager to be the one to finally disprove the myths – because after all, how daunting could two twenty year olds really be? 

The answer comes in the form of a flashing sword cane wielded by an enemy they can barely see, at the fists of a man who grins as he fights, bright and gleaming. 

London’s streets are changing, and it’s very clear which way the wind is blowing, especially once Pearl Attaway and Lucy Thorne turn up dead. It’s around then that people begin to defect, sneaking away from the Blighters to join the Rooks, because no matter which way you slice it, it is clearly much better to be on the Fryes’ good side than in their way. 

Coming face to face with them, even as friend rather than foe, is still nerve-wracking, and it’s difficult to look either of them in the eye sometimes – but once you do look, it’s almost impossible to look away again. Whether it's just powerful charisma or something harder to explain, the draw of them, the gravity they exert, is both irresistible and intoxicating, and when Evie smiles or Jacob slaps you heavily on the shoulder, you can’t help…liking them. It feels like being favoured, like being chosen; a feeling so warm and welcoming that you know you’d die for them if they asked. 

One day, they will probably ask. But every Rook knows that if they fall, Evie or Jacob will be beside them, and somehow that is enough.

Faster than seems possible, what was fear becomes fervour of another kind, and when Crawford Starrick is finally dead and the Frye twins return home victorious, it feels as though the whole city cheers. 

**Author's Note:**

> A small slip of the finger when getting ready to post this had me thinking how funny it would be if I accidentally filed this under my series of Legally Blonde fluff fics lol
> 
> Thanks for reading and please review!


End file.
